Drogon, the alpha dragon among Daenerys Targaryen’s (Emilia Clarke) three dragons, is so much larger in Game of Thrones Season 5 that the Emmy-winning visual effects team–led by producer Steve Kullback and visual effects supervisor Joe Bauer–had to use two new methods to bring him to life. “Drogon is twice the size he was last year. He’s about 40 feet long and 20 percent bigger than the other two dragons,” Bauer says. “He’s also the alpha, so his way goes. He’s still affectionate with Dany, but he’s got his own mind and needs her less, just like any child growing up.”

The team began with a Technodolly–a motion-controlled crane with a 15-foot-high arm that moves in different directions while its base rolls along a track. The telescopic arm usually holds a camera, but instead the crew mounted a flamethrower that could shoot as far as 50 feet. “Standing 50 feet away from the dragon fire, you could get a nice tan,” executive producer D.B. Weiss says.